Running with breathing issues

amie87
amie87 Posts: 2 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi,

I have begun running over 4 weeks now and have slowly started building up my distance. Started at 1.3km without stopping to now running 3km without stopping.

I'm finding that once I hit around 2km I tend to be gasping for air. I currently breath in through my nose and out through my mouth. Although I read in a forum that if you have issues with getting enough air into your lungs, to try breathing in and out of your mouth only. I'm not sure whether I should try this or not.

I don't has asthma or any heart issues within the family to determine that that's the reasoning behind it.

Does anyone have any tips for me?

Replies

  • hill8570
    hill8570 Posts: 1,466 Member
    Can you slow down your pace a bit? Gasping is usually a sign you're above your current aerobic threshold (i.e., your body is consuming oxygen faster than you can breathe it in and distribute it to your tissues). You can slow down or do more non-running cardio work to keep building your aerobic base. Too soon to be thinking about fartek / interval training, IMHO.

    You can try mouth breathing to work around it, but you might want to wear a face mask if it's cold where you're at -- your throat and lungs won't be happy at first if it's cold...but they adjust.
  • _Zardoz_
    _Zardoz_ Posts: 3,987 Member
    Sounds like you're trying to run too fast. Speed will come with time. Slow down you should be able to hold a conversation. Don't worry if it feels too slow as I said the speed will come
  • benefiting
    benefiting Posts: 795 Member
    I personally slow down if I get to that state and I also breathe out of my mouth.
  • random_user75
    random_user75 Posts: 157 Member
    Another vote for slowing down.

    I am also, at times, a dirty mouth breather. It happens.
  • kristennikco
    kristennikco Posts: 34
    Also, ensure you are not anemic. That is my struggling area when it comes to fitness; I have a huge lack of oxygen due to having anemia. When you are anemic, it means you are short on red blood cells and those are required to transport oxygen throughout your body.
  • LKArgh
    LKArgh Posts: 5,179 Member
    Slow down, and/or try intervals.
  • runfatmanrun
    runfatmanrun Posts: 1,090 Member
    I typically overanalyze things but this is what I have done. I would say you chould work to find a rhythm that works for you based on your foot cadence. Meaning, for an easy run, you should be able to breath in for four steps, then out for 3-4 steps. You can change it based on how you feel or how hard you are running. Yes, you may need to slow down. I have found that when I start out, I breath in for 4 or more step and out for the same. My comfortable pace is in for 3, out for 2. It's a trial and error thing.
  • nerfherder83
    nerfherder83 Posts: 23 Member
    I have exercise-induced asthma, and when I first started running I couldn't go more than 30 seconds without being completely out of breath. Here's how I got to a point where I could jog 50 minutes non-stop:

    1. Slow down. Like, even if people are walking faster than you're jogging don't worry about it. You've gotta build up your stamina. When I started out I was at 16 minute pace. So yeah, really, really slow.

    2. Breathe in and out of your mouth. The minute I tossed that whole "in-through-your-nose-out-through-your-mouth" logic out the window my stamina improved drastically.

    3. Like @runfatmanrun said, watch your cadence. When I first started I matched my inhales and exhales to each footstep. I didn't run with music for the first 3-4 months because I was so focused on my breathing. A typical jogging session went something like this for me:
    - 5 minute walk warm up
    - begin jog:
    breathe in 8 steps, breathe out 8 steps... did this for about a minute/until It got too hard to breathe that slow then changed to
    breathe in 7 steps, breathe out 7 steps... did this for about a minute/until It got too hard to breathe that slow then changed to
    breathe in 6 steps, breathe out 6 steps...
    Kept dropping my count until I got down to a 4-in, 4-out count, then stopped and walked for a couple minutes to catch my breath, then started all over again at the 8 count.

    By doing that, over the next couple of months I saw SO MUCH improvement. Then one day I jogged 2 miles and realized I didn't need to count my cadence any more. That's when I started listening to music :)

    Good luck!
  • amie87
    amie87 Posts: 2 Member
    Thanks guys for your advice! I really appreciate it a lot!

    I currently run between 6min-7mins per km which I think seems slow but I'm sure its doesn't look slow when people see me run.

    @nerfherder83 - thanks for your tips on the exercised-induced asthma. I have been reading forums where people that don't have asthma only tend to get it when exercising which makes me wonder if I have it too. I'm in the mindset that maybe if I'm finding it hard to breathe at certain points, maybe I should consider interval training e.g.: Couch to 5K app on iphone. When I first started running in 2012 I used that app to build up my cardio training which I found really good and worked for me, but then I stopped running for a year.

    I will try to breathe through my mouth on my next run which will be in 2 days time and see how that goes. I also haven't been listening to music because I think I don't breathe consistent when I do.

    Thanks again guys!

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